Blood Brothers

We also went to se "Blood Brothers" stage show at The Phoenix Theatre in London, and was performed by the Ambassador Theatrical Company. My first reaction to the theatre was that it was really small but also really cosy and welcoming. The colour theme win the theatre was deep red velvet which immediately made me think of suspense and drama and this was enhanced by the eerie red lighting cast on the gauze. I also liked the fact that the audience formed the fourth wall which was occasionally broken by the actors as it made me feel that the characters re interacting with the other characters and you. I thought that the set worked very well, because although you can see graffiti in Mrs Lyons room but it doesn't matter because you know that it's not representing a real house. This makes the set minimalist but very effective, I also liked the fact that there is an off-world set such as Mickey's house and the field in the countryside. An initial thought that came to me was that it was difficult t see emotion clearly on the characters face when sitting in the dress ring.

Set:

The first stimulus that was used in preparation for Blood Brothers was a self made drama piece about fate and destiny. My initial response to this was anxiousness because Fate and Destiny seemed like a very wide subject however we started to plan it out with a brainstorm of general ideas. We chose the idea of a tour around a castle with an archaeologist wanting to steal the stone tablet of King Arthur. We brainstormed the idea further:

Brainstorm:

While devising the script I was conscious that the subject was very much like "Blood Brothers" with the running theme of fate. To create the characters we used thought tracking and a bit of hot seating to discover why our characters were there, this helped us create a deeper understanding of our characters which in turn enabled us to give a truer performance. The thought tracking was used at moments when our group got stuck in devising our piece, by using this technique we were able to analyse what our characters might be doing according to personality traits. For example, as a group we couldn't work out how my character and the archaeologist were connected within the story and by reviewing both our characters and discussing as a group we were able to create the connection. I personally created my character by going through situations and circumstances that my character could be presented with and what her reactions would be. I think all of these techniques helped our group to develop our characters because we could get used to the acting with the suspicion of fate and how it affects the story. From his stimulus I learnt that introducing fate into a story increases the audiences need for answers because there are different views on fate and destiny and whether it is true.

Our second task was to create an alternative beginning to the "Blood Brothers" script. At first I thought it would be very easy because we had something to work with, however I found it quite challenging because it was hard not to se ideas from the show in London. We wanted to keep parts of it the same to keep the feeling of the show; however we wanted to change some bits to improve it. For example, we wanted Mrs Johnston to face forwards than backwards so the audience can see the emotion in her face when the narrator is telling the story about the two brothers. We also had the chorus run on from upstage left during the song because we felt that the beginning of the song was too emotional and it was not right to have he stage filled with chorus actors because it would spoil the scene being created by the song. The narrator sat at the front of the stage just in front of the fourth wall line to give the audience the feeing that the narrator is also watching the show rather than being in it. Once he crossed the fourth wall line he entered the story and was no longer watching it, he was in it. I felt this was a good stimulus because it showed us that by changing the tinyest detail the scene can take on a whole new meaning. It also made me realise how well thought out the show actually is.

Set:

The third stimulus was an enactment of the "Our Sammy" monologue; this helped me to remember what it was like to act like a child and their immaturity. This was helpful because I sometimes forget the minor details that make the acting more believable. We tried to emphasize the line "But I'm not I'm nearly eight!' by saying the line as a chorus and increasing the tone of our voice. We did this because the poem is centred on the fact that Mickey wants to d the things that Sammy does. We felt that this stimulus was effective because it showed the relationship between rival siblings and younger ones idolising older brothers and sisters. As a group, three of us played Mickey and Jacob played Sammy, by using three of us to pay Mickey we could alternate lines and say the line "But I'm not I'm nearly eight!' in chorus to emphasize it. We used a louder voice and whined while we said the lie to imitate a child whining at their mother because they feel it is unfair. We used physical theatre to portray the line 'without arms, or legs or even heads', we decided to use physical theatre to vary the acting in the monologue. By physically removing the arms, legs and head of the woman it can show the immaturity of Sammy and his fascination with drawing 'nudey' women.